1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to rotary tillers, and in particular to those tillers used to maintain cross country ski trails.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rotary tillers have been employed in the past for maintaining cross country ski trails. Such tillers are normally provided with a rotatably driven tiller shaft having an array of radial cutters. The shaft is aligned perpendicular to the running direction of the vehicle. To simplify the maintenance of the cross country ski trail and also to make it cheaper, the tiller shaft is built wide enough so that it covers two adjoining cross country ski tracks together with the associated pole tracks. It thus extends altogether over two pairs of cross country ski tracks and a total of four adjacent pole tracks, which respectively run parallel to the cross country tracks. The cutters of the tiller shaft all have a uniform length.
The known rotary tiller has proven itself in practice. In one working step, it can create or again refurbish both the cross country ski track which leads to the destination as well as the return track. In the case of refurbishing the track, the tiller tills the existing tracks by comminuting the snow down to a certain depth and mixing the upper layer with the lower layer. A trailing track unit then impresses the cross country ski tracks into the freshly prepared snow.
Although such conventional rotary tillers work reliably, they suffer from one disadvantage in that a substantial amount of power is required in order to tow them, particularly where the trails are severely iced. Thus, vehicles with relatively small engines have considerable difficulty in towing the tillers.